The crazy look of the 2018 World Cup if it had 48 teams

Join ESPN in Russia, as we go on the lookout for one of the World Cup's biggest stars, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Saudi Arabia's 5-0 capitulation to what was previously considered to be a distinctly average Russia side raised questions about the depth of quality at the 2018 World Cup. Friday's dull match between Iran and Morocco hardly offered a counterargument.

That adds up to 46 teams. The outline plan is that the two additional places will be decided by a six-nation playoff, held in the World Cup host country. European nations would not be eligible for the playoffs. The two nations ranked highest by FIFA would go direct to the final, with the other four nations contesting the semifinals. The winners of the two finals would go to the World Cup.

For the purposes of this illustration, qualification places have been handed to the next-best nations in 2018 World Cup qualifying in each confederation to fill the additional slots. In addition, the two best FIFA-ranked teams after this are assumed to have won the playoffs.

Hosts are expected to take a slot from their confederation's allocation.

The 48-team World Cup would start with 16 groups of three teams. The top two teams in each group would go through to the next phase, which has caused controversy as it means the teams playing the final group match could play out a draw to make it through. It has been suggested that all group-game draws are decided by penalty shootouts to prevent collusion.

There would be very few marquee matches in the group stage, other than perhaps Portugal vs. Argentina. The question is just how competitive China could be against Germany and Paraguay. Or Syria against Egypt and Belgium, likewise Uganda in with Chile and Croatia.

But you could say that about any World Cup with four-team groups and one weaker side.

The top two teams in each group will go through to the knockout stage -- meaning there is an additional knockout round to what we will see in 2018.